Heel-lasting apparatus.



A. L. RUSSELL. HEEL LASTING APPARATUS. APPLICATION FILED JULY 24, 1912.

1,088,037. Patented Feb. 24, 1914.

Mmmxay F1 3 mamma- COLUMBIA PLANOORAPH CD..WASHINGTON, 6.

UNITED STATE 1ZTTENT erosion.

ARTHUR L. RUSSELL, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO UNITED SHOE MACHINERY COMPANY, OF PATERSGN, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, ARTHUR L. RUSSELL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain Improvements in Heel-Lasting Apparatus, of which the following description, in con nection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like reference characters on the drawings indicating like parts in the several figures.

This invention relates to shoe machinery and particularly to apparatus useful in lasting and the like operations.

The object of the invention is to secure better fitting of shoes about the heel portions of lasts and particularly above the ball of the heel.

There is, just above the ball of the heel of a foot and between it and the ankle proper, a thin neck which it is desirable to cause a shoe to fit well in order that the shoe shall not have a tendency to slip up and down on the wearers heel. It is to secure this fitting in greater degree and to faci1itate fastening the stock so that the shape of the shoe shall be permanent in this respect that is a main purpose of this invention.

Another object is to provide means which, in the usual shoe jacking operation preliminary to lasting on a bed type of lasting machine, will position the end portions of the heel stiffeners with relation to the plane of the shoe bottom and thereby lessen the hand labor which usually includes pulling up the stiffener ends. These-ends have a normal tendency to spring down because in the assembling operation the rear end of the stiffener, with the upper, is bent inwardly at its upper edge over the last bottom and fastened to the innersole without being adequately held from springing away from the last at the lower edge of the stiffener. This latter movement carries the front ends of the stiffener wings down and the laster has to pull them up again. To meet these conditions this invention provides means to engage the upper materials at the neck of the last and press or tension them, including the lower edge of the heel stiffener, forward and conform them to the neck of the last. For this purpose a stretcher is arranged at about the level of the lower portion of the usual heel band, being carried by the band as herein shown and projecting forwardly into Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed July 24, 1912.

Patented Feb. 24, 1914.

Serial No. 711,273.

the shoe receiving space in the band, to engage the upper at opposite sides of the neck and frictionally press it forwardly. The stretcher is shown as a spring fork narrower than the shoe so that it is spread as theshoe enters it. The rear end or crotch of the fork forms an abutment which finally presses the upper materials firmly against the rear end face of the last. In this way the stock is snugly fitted about the rear and sides of the neck of the last and held there preparatory to being lasted over the shoe bottom and secured. The forwardly directed action of the stretching device on the upper and on the heel stiffener which is fastened at its upper edge tends to force upwardly as well as forwardly the front ends of the stifiener wings and adjacent portions of the upper toward position to be secured and by securing these parts, as by the usual lasting tacks, while they are tightly fitted about the neck of the last the shape of the shoe in this respect is permanently established.

The invention will now be more particularly described in connection with the accompanying drawings and then pointed out in the claims.

Figure 1 is a perspective view partly in sectlon. Fig. 2 is a side elevation also partly in section and showing a shoe inv place. Fig. 3 is a plan view showing the cooperation of the stretcher of this invention with a preferred form of heel band.

The neck stretcher is shown as a fork having diverging spring arms 2 and a crotch 8 secured to an upwardly projecting head at of a sliding rod 5 that is carried by the heel band support 6 in which it can yield backwardly against a spring 8. The head 4: is arranged to position the clasp relatively to the lower portion of the band 10 in a location to engage an inverted shoe just below the ball or enlarged part of the heel and at the thin neck of the last. As the shoe is thrust backwardly into the band, Fig. 3, in the usual jacking operation the neck of the shoe meets the spring arms 2 which pinch the upper and the lower portion of the heel stiffener, indicated at 12 by dotted lines in Fig. 2, to the last and'as the backward movement of the last continues the arms 2 act frictionally to tension or stretch the upper materials forwardly until, when the shoe is seated in the crotch 3, Fig. 2, the j crotch becomes an abutment cooperating,

of theneck of the last and holding them.

, rally recedes a little from the lower portion of the end face of the last, as is well understood, but the spring 8 which has been made to .yield when the shoe abuts against 1 the crotch 3 takes up the movement and maintains the stretcher firmly against the shoe. The heel 'band 10 is preferably formed narrower, 00-00, Fig. 3, at the upper portion of its rear edge than the breadth of the portion of the last which is to be embraced by it so that said band acts to tighten the upper materials forwardly around the upper edge of the rear end face of the'last asflthe shoe is being drawn into the band and atthe same time that the stretcher 2, 3 is tightening them around the neck of the last. The heel band is also preferably made so that when it is closed the lower portion of each wing engages the shoe first and the area of engagementspreads upwardly with the result of gathering toward the shoe bottom the stock which has been pressed forwardly and upwardly the stretching device 2, 3. These characteristics of the heel band are more fully ex plained in a copending application of lIatthias Brock filed July 17, 1912, Serial No.

709,971, in which this band is claimed.

Features of the present invention are to: be recognized in the combination of the new stretching device with a heel band arranged to cooperate therewith as above described as well as in the combination with" a heel'band of any usual construction which aids in positioning the shoe for the stretching device to engage the shoe about the neck of the last at and adjacent to the lower edge of the heel stiffener as distinguished from about the ball of the last.

l-laving fully described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States 2- 1. In an apparatus of the class described,

the combination with means for supporting a shoe in inverted position on a last, of means for. engaging the shoe on opposite sides of the neck of the last below the ball of the heel and primarily at points close to the rear end of the last, said means com prising a stretcher having opposed side. 7 members normally held yieldingly in their 2. In an apparatus of the class described, a stretcher comprlsing two diverging spring arms and a crotch all arranged to engage 5 an inverted shoe at the thin neck of the As the sides of the heel band are closed,

- as is usual, the rear end of the band natallast below the ball of the heel and respectively tighten the upper materials forwardly by frictional engagement therewith along the sides of said neck and then press them firmly against the back of said neck, as a shoe is thrust backwardly therein.

3. In an apparatus of the class described the combination with a heel embracing band adapted to clasp a shoe thrust endwise therein, of a device arranged relatively to the band to engage the shoe about the thin neck of the last and tighten the upper materials to that portion of the last preliminary to the clasping of the last by the band.

4:. In an apparatus of the class described the combination with a heel embracing band adapted to clasp a shoe thrust endwise therein, of a device yieldingly mounted within the lower portion of the band to engage the shoe about the thin neck of the last and tighten the upper materials forwardly.

5. In an apparatus of the class described the combination with a heel embracing band adapted to clasp a shoe thrust endwise therein, of a device arranged to press the upper materials against the rear end face of the neck of the last and between which and the hand there is provision for relative movement whereby said device continues to press 1 firmly while the lower edge portion of the band gives away backward as the band clasps the shoe.

6. In an apparatus of the class described the combination with the heel embracing band 10 of the neck clasp comprising the spring arms 2 and the crotch 3 and the spring actuated carrier 4 yieldingly pressing the clasp forwardly into the band.

7. In an apparatus of the class described the combination with a heel embracing band adapted to open and close about a last thrust rearwardly into it, of means arranged to press the upper materials forwardly at the lower edge portion of the heel stiflener prior to the closing of the band.

8. In an apparatus of the class described thecombination with a heel embracing band adapted to open and close about a last thrust rearwardly into it, of means arranged to press the stock firmly against the rear end face of the last at the lower edge of the heel stiffener whereby to raise the front ends of the stiffener wings and to maintain the pressure until the band closes, said band being formed to gather the stock on the sides of the last toward the shoe bottom as it is closed.

9. In an apparatus of the class described the combination with a heel band which at itsrear portion is formed narrower than the breadth of the upper portion of a shoe which it is to receive whereby it tends to tension the upper forwardly, of means for engaging the upper materials along the neck of the last for also tightening the stock forwardly below the ball of the last as the shoe is thrust backwardly into tne band.

10. In an apparatus of the class described the combination with a heel embracing band adapted to open and close about a shoe, of means cooperating therewith to force the upper materials and the stifi'ener forwardly along the lower edge of the stiffener and to raise the stiffener ends preparatory to the clasping of the stock to the sides of the heel 5; by the closing of the band.

11. In an apparatus of the class described the combination with a heel embracing band of means for automatically lifting the heel stiffener ends preparatory to the closing of the band.

12. In an apparatus of the class described the combination with means to engage an assembled shoe at the sides and the rear end of the neck of the last and force the upper materials forwardly, of means to engage the shoe along the two sidesof the heel near the shoe bottom and force the upper materials forwardly at those points, and means to clasp the sides of the front portions of the heel and operating for progressively gathering the stock toward the shoe edge.

13. In an apparatus of the class described, means shaped and arranged to embrace the heel portion of a shoe at and below the edge line of the shoe bottom, and cooperating means arranged to engage the rear of the neck of the shoe and press the upper materials forwardly against the neck of the last and between which and the first-mentioned means there is provision for relative movement in the direction of the length of the shoe, sald neck engaglng means being mounted to contact with the work before the other means clamps the upper to the last. In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

ARTHUR L. RUSSELL.

Witnesses:

JENNIE P. ANDERSON, MARTHA O. BOOTHBY.

Copies 01 this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. 0." 

